Long Reads
Inside Ipswich's first stamp museum
Since opening on Fore Street three months ago, the Ipswich Stamp Museum has been giving residents a reason to look twice at stamps – calling them "miniature pieces of artwork."
Long Reads
How fifty years of Citizens Advice reveals a changing Ipswich
Since 1974, thousands of Ipswich residents have walked through Citizens Advice's doors with their most difficult problems. Five decades of frontline experience have given the charity a unique vantage point on a town that has changed a great deal since it first opened.
Long Reads
Who kicked the dogs out...but let Waffles in?
Emotional support animals and pets have been banned from Suffolk County Council's offices, but just five days earlier, its leader's dog, Waffles, was given a pass and his own office sign. Ipswich.co.uk sniffs out the paper trail and puts the questions to the council's top dog...and his owner.
Long Reads
Suffolk Sister Solace: One year of belonging
A year ago, Mahjabin Anwar built a space for Global Majority women in Suffolk to feel seen. This Saturday, with a DJ, pizza and a raffle built entirely around local women's businesses, she is celebrating just how far that idea has come.
Long Reads
Ipswich schools and colleges celebrate a strong set of results
From an Early Years T Level distinction to Cambridge offers and a degree apprenticeship at Sizewell C, students across Ipswich have marked results day with some standout achievements this year.
Long Reads
One simple ask: A cancer patient's fight to see her own medical notes
Glenda Foster had surgery for breast cancer in October 2023. She has spent months trying to see the full audit trail of her own medical notes, but multiple requests, a regulator's ruling and a solicitor's letter have got her no closer to an answer.
Long Reads
Suffolk County Council watchdog marks own homework, then decides it can wait
Suffolk County Council's monitoring officer found two breaches of law in a process he was part of. He then decided for himself how serious they were, and that the consequences could wait. A leaked report confirms the breaches, but does nothing to explain the delay.
Long Reads
Is Suffolk County Council stalling its own watchdog to save its court fight over local government reorganisation?
A Section 5A report is one of the most serious sanctions available in English local government – and one is heading Suffolk County Council's way. Rather than being issued at pace, as convention demands, it appears set to wait until the council's October cabinet meeting. We ask why.
Long Reads
Fire sale fears as Suffolk County Council's leader says he has 'no interest in handing down anything to the new unitaries'
Suffolk County Council's Reform UK leader, Michael Hadwen, is exploring selling off the council's wholly owned companies before power is handed to three new unitary authorities, a recording of a private meeting has revealed, sparking outrage from opposition leaders.
Long Reads
Should businesses underwrite Ipswich's culture strategy even if it loses City of Culture?
Win or lose its bid to become the 2029 City of Culture, local businesses are being asked to fund a "city of culture" regardless. Can the council convince a cash-strapped private sector to look beyond its past performance and fund its ten-year culture strategy?
Long Reads
Gazal's: From basement salon to Upper Brook Street
Mrs Singh arrived in England 15 years ago, and built more than a beauty salon in a small unit in the Buttermarket – she built a found family. Now, alongside her daughter Santghai, she has stepped into the light on Upper Brook Street, carrying the same vigor with her.
Long Reads
Suffolk 'stands no chance' without devolution deal
Following last Thursday's announcement that mayors will be handed a share of income tax and business rates revenue, Suffolk's Chamber of Commerce and mayoral candidates have urged the government to press ahead with devolution for Suffolk and Norfolk.